AHA! Festival

Speakers / Performers

Aarne Ranta

Aarne Ranta är professor i datavetenskap på institutionen för data- och informationsteknik. Som student var han intresserad av både matematik och språk, och studerade dessa ämnen tills han fann en syntes i logik och språkfilosofi. Hans teoretiska grundforskning ledde snart till datorexperiment, som så småningom utvecklades till systemet Grammatical Framework (GF), som är en teknik för att identifiera gemensamma strukturer i världens språk och använda dem i automatisk språkanalys och översättning. GF har en community av flera hundra medlemmar runt om i världen, som har tillämpat tekniken till över 40 språk. Rantas intresse är dels teknikens nyttiggörande, som sker i ett flertal företag, dels att utforska gränserna för datorns förmåga att förstå naturligt språk.

Alternative History

The Alternative History project is inspired by the practice of renaissance musicians rearranging the acappella polyphony of their predecessors and contemporaries for voices and lutes. We also re-imagine the world of twentieth century English song as lute song, as it might have been had the early music movement started fifty years earlier. And we add to the lute song repertoire songs provided for us by living songwriters including Tony Banks (Genesis), John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Sting and Gavin Bryars. The quartet is Jacob Heringman, Ariel Abramovich, John Potter and Anna Maria Friman.

Anders Hagberg

Critically acclaimed and innovative virtuoso Anders Hagberg is a unique soloist on a variety of flutes and soprano saxophone. His musical synthesis, combines the improvised freedom of jazz with an archaic Scandinavian lyricism and influences from his longtime collaborations with Oriental musicians.

 He has been touring worldwide with his own groups and as a soloist with artists like New Jungle Orchestra, Yggdrasil, Marilyn Mazur, Vikku Vinayakram to name a few. He has composed music for films and dance performances and made many albums to his name, which have received Grammy nominations and prizes. 

 Anders is a Professor of Musical Performance, Improvisation at the University of Gothenburg, Academy of Music & Drama.

Andrea Lundgren

Andrea Lundgrens is a writer, essayist and a literary critic. Her first novel, I tunga vintrars mage, was published in 2010. Her third and latest book, the acclaimed short story collection Nordisk fauna, came out in 2018. It got nominated for serveral literary prizes and won Tidningens Vi:s litteraturpris and Samfundet de Nios vinterpris. Common themes in her work are myth, transformations and the borderland between animal and human.

Ann-Sofie Axelsson

Ann-Sofie Axelsson är prefekt på Institutionen för vetenskapens kommunikation och lärande på Chalmers samt chef för Chalmers bibliotek. Hon har tidigare varit chef för Avdelningen för teknik och samhälle på Chalmers, och verksam som forskare och lärare inom området teknikens ekonomi och organisation. I sin forskning har hon ägnat särskilt intresse för hur användningen av digitala tekniker skapar social förändring på individ-, organisations-, och samhällelig nivå. Hon har under åren bedrivit undervisning med nära koppling till sin forskning i kurser kring nya medier och social förändring, digitalisering och globalisering, ingenjörens roll i samhället och hållbar utveckling. Ann-Sofie är också verksam som översättare av skönlitteratur från isländska till svenska då hon har översatt verk av Kristín Ómarsdóttir.

Anna Maria Friman

For the last twenty years Anna Maria Friman from Gothenburg has been working as a freelance musician (voice and hardanger fiddle) in project based chamber music ensembles, soloist engagements ranging from small ensemble formations (such as Ensemble Serikon, Gavin Bryars Ensemble, Hille Perl´s Sirius Viols and Bang on a can All-Stars) to Symphony Orchestral works, as well as with her two regular groups Trio Mediaeval and Alternative History Quartet. In 2018 she started working in trio format with Catalina Vicens and Marco Ambrosini. Most of her ensemble engagements over the last ten years have included performers from different musical styles, crossing borders between folk, improvisation, contemporary, medieval and renaissance music. She has performed and given radio broadcasts throughout Europe, USA, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan, and since 2001 she has recorded for ECM Records. In 2010 Anna completed a Doctor of Philosophy in Music at the University of York, UK where she researched the modern performance of medieval music by women. For five years she taught singing and coached vocal ensembles at the University of York, and further through the years she has very much enjoyed giving vocal masterclasses and ensemble workshops at different academic institutions in Europe and USA, teaching at summer courses as well as coaching individual groups. In the Autumn of 2019 Anna teaches at the MA in Choral conducting programme at the HSM, Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg.

Annamaria Gabrielli

is a lecturer at the Division for Language and Communication at Chalmers, where she teaches technical writing and Maritime English. Her current research aims at improving cross-curricular teaching and learning methods.

Anush Babajanyan

Armenian photographer Anush Babajanyan is a member of the VII Photo Agency, focusing her work on social narratives related to women, issues of minorities, and the aftermath of the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh, among others.

In addition to working extensively in the Caucasus, she also continues to photograph in Turkey, the Middle East and West Africa.

Much of Anush Babajanyan’s recent activity has been dedicated to peace building processes between Armenia and Turkey. In 2016, she co-founded the #BridgingStories project that brought together young photographers from Turkey and Armenia, in an effort to bridge peace between the two nations.

Anush is currently hand-making her first book, The House of Culture, about the memory of Soviet Armenian culture houses.

Ariel Abramovich

Ariel Abramovich studied lute and vihuela with Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and subsequenty in France with Eugène Ferré. In 1998 he formed "El Cortesano" with counter-tenor José Hernández-Pastor to explore the Spanish vihuela repertoire, and in 2002 the duo released the first ever album solely devoted to Valladolid vihuela composer Estevan Daça. In 2009 the duo released an album devoted to another rarely heard vihuelista, Salamanca-born Diego Pisador.

In 2008 he began working on the 16th & 17th century English lute song repertoire with tenor John Potter, and this duo became the catalyst for the Amores Pasados and Secret History recordings on ECM with Anna Maria Friman and Jacob Heringman. Their Alternative History project re-imagines renaissance polyphony as lute song (as musicians would have done in the 16th and 17th centuries) and has commissioned new music from rock musicians John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Tony Banks (Genesis) and Sting. Ariel and Jacob Heringman have also released Cifras Imagnarias, an album of intabulations for two lutes on Arcana.

In 2013 Ariel formed the duo Armonía Concertada with soprano Maria Cristina Kiehr, a project dedicated to the 16th Century Iberian repertoire for voice and plucked strings, and he has recently begun working with soprano Perrine Devillers on musical texts from the Italian Cinquecento.

Ariel is also active as a teacher and has given masterclasses at conservatories and educational institutions all over the world, including Spain, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, the US, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay.

Arve Henriksen

Arve Henriksen is a major representative of a golden generation of Norwegian jazz musicians. «Towards Language» is his ninth solo album (eight on Rune Grammofon and one on ECM), he has also released a dozen albums as a founder member of Supersilent and appears on well over a hundred records by artists like David Sylvian, Jon Balke, Trygve Seim, Imogen Heap, Arild Andersen and many more. With «Towards Language» trumpeter Arve Henriksen is back with his trusted long time musical partners Jan Bang and Erik Honoré. Arve first collaborated with the pair on the much loved and highly praised «Chiaroscuro» (2004), Arve´s second album, and later on «Cartography» (ECM 2008) and «Places Of Worship» (2013). Also an important part of the line-up is Eivind Aarset, the ECM associated guitarist extraordinaire.

Ásgeir Sigurjónsson

Ásgeir Sigurjónsson är arkitekt och koordinator hos Centrum för vårdens arkitektur. Ásgeir bygger också musikinstrument, gärna från hittade material.

Ásgeir Sigurjónsson is an architect and coordinator at Chalmers Centre for Healthcare architecture. He also builds musical instruments, often with found materials.

Auroras

We are five students studying Interaction Design at Chalmers with different backgrounds in IT, Design and Mechatronics. We all share a common passion to create meaningful experiences and challenge conventional interactions. Our project was created in collaboration with Universeum to teach about invisible phenomena that occur around us.

Members: Robin Edquist, Oscar Fredriksson, Johan Hansson, Elias Lind & Karl Ängermark

Blue Fan

A simulacrum (possibly in Baudrillard's sense of the word) of late 20th century Central European synth pop, Blue Fan is sweeping onto the Gothenburg music scene like a fresh breeze of Foehn wind, with simple melodies, inscrutable electronic sounds and amorphous metaphors. Blue Fan is the product of the neural networks of Lisa, Magnus and Rolf, and has been exploring creativity within the generative constraints of electronic pop music since 2018. Manifestations of their work can be found on various online streaming services. Likt ett simulacrum (möjligen i ordets baudrillardska betydelse) av det sena 1900-talets centraleuropeiska synthpop sveper Blue Fan som en frisk föhnvind in över Göteborgs musikscen, med enkla melodier, outgrundliga elektroniska klanger och formlösa metaforer. Blue Fan är en produkt av Lisas, Magnus och Rolfs neurala nätverk och har sedan 2018 utforskat sin kreativitet inom den elektroniska popmusikens generativa begränsningar. Frukterna av deras arbete finns att åtnjuta online hos flera streamingtjänster.

Björn Wiman

Björn has always had a passion for music. He has work within the whole "foodchain" - from production, export sales, marketing, logistics, distribution to end user/customer satisfaction within HiFi for the last 25+ years. Currently he is part of team Akkelis Audio, a high-end HiFi shop in Gothenburg.

William Brooks

Christian Blomstrand

Christian Blomstrand, professor emeritus i neurologi vid Sahlgrenska Akademin, Göteborgs Universitet. Docent i neurobiologi 1971 och i neurologi 1974. Forskningen berörde föränderlighet i hjärnans celler och samspel efter skada och vid stimulering. 1979- 1989 klinikchef vid neurologiska kliniken och 1990-1994 chefläkare i Sahlgrenskas sjukhusledning. Från 1980 talet neurologisk forskning som fokuserades kring folksjukdomen stroke och akut behandling, men också att förstå möjligheter av hjärnans formbarhet (plasticitet) även i längre perspektiv. Senaste år aktiv i uppbyggnad av ett starkt strokenätverk i Västsverige och arbetande ordförande i StrokeInvest https://strokeinvest.se . Kulturens roll för människans hjärnhälsa är uppenbar. Musik har en framträdande roll.

Cooper & Gorfer

Cooper & Gorfer comprises the artists Sarah Cooper (US, 1974) and Nina Gorfer (Austria, 1979). Their work focuses on the female aspects of cultural identity. Based on the stories and lives of the women they meet and collaborated with, Cooper & Gorfer explore issues of memory, migration, dislocation, and the malleability of identity.

The artist duo are known for their distinct hybrid portraits. Their photo-based collages are anchored in an anthropological research of people, place and the genius loci. They reimagine the tradition of portraiture by visually examining and deconstructing the narrative of those they portray. Like art history’s Mannerists and Surrealists or literature’s Magical Realism, Cooper & Gorfer strain observable reality through a complex psychological filter of memories, moods and wounds.

Cooper & Gorfer began their collaboration in 2006. They live and work in Gothenburg.

Cyborg Box

Five Chalmers interaction design students with a background in cognitive science have found each other and a common desire for creating experiences where these fields overlap. Current project, Cyborg Box, was originally exhibited at Universeum as an installation intended to inspire and raise interest around augmented/altered perception.We are:Marcus Larsson | Victor Löfgren Norrman | Henrik Nilsson | Tommy Olsson | Joachim Pihlgren

Daniel Berg

Marimba principal, chamber musician, composer and teacher. Berg is lecturer in musical impersonation and teaches percussion, chamber music and ensemble, at academy of Music in Gothenburg, Örebro and Stockholm.

Eivind Aarset

Eivind Aarset is a guitarist with a unique musical vision that absorbs and reflects all manner of music while retaining an enviable individualism and high quality craftsmanship that can span from quiet intimacy to searing intensity. His debut as a bandleader on Jazzland Recordings was described by the New York Times as "One of the best post-Miles electric jazz albums," setting a high benchmark that Aarset has consistently met and exceeded, both in the studio and in live performance.

As one of Norway's most in-demand guitarists, Eivind Aarset has worked with Jon Hassell, David Sylvian, Bill Laswell, Jan Garbarek, Paolo Fresu, Marilyn Mazur, J.Peter Schwalm, Mike Manieri, Marc Ducret, Michel Benitas Ethics, Martux-M, Stefano Battaglia, Michele Rabbia, Talvin Singh, and Andy Sheppard. As part of the band, Ab & Zu, he created the unique guitar style and sound he would later develop further as part of saxophonist Bendik Hofseth's group. However, it was his involvement with Bugge Wesseltoft and the Oslo Jazz underground that crystallized the sound he was seeking: "What drew me to this music was the hypnotic grooves and musical freedom I found," says Eivind. "There's no established rules or tradition in what I am doing, you can make the rules up as you go along. Rhythm is the centre of the music, the landscape the soloist travels through. It's fresh territory and I have no idea where this scene will end up, but there's a lot of great sounds and new music being created which makes it such an exciting scene."

Erik Honoré

Erik Honoré (born 11 December 1966 in Kristiansand, Norway) is a Norwegian writer, musician, record producer and sound engineer. As a musician, he has collaborated with Jan Bang, David Sylvian, Brian Eno/Peter Schwalm, Jon Hassell, Nils Petter Molvær, Arve Henriksen, Sidsel Endresen, Unni Wilhelmsen, Eivind Aarset

Honoré is a graduate sound engineer and producer at the Norwegian Institute for Stage and Studio, a College in Oslo. He is a published novelist and has a long career as a musician, sound engineer and producer. Together with musician colleague Jan Bang he initiated the Punkt-festivalen in 2005, guest curated by Brian Eno in 2012. Honoré released the album Year of the Bullet (2012), a joint effort with vocalist and spouse Greta Aagre, and in 2014 released his first solo album Heliographs.

Fredrik Höök

Fredrik Höök, head of the Biological Physics Division at Chalmers, develops bioanalytical sensors, with special emphasis on their combination with cell-membrane mimics and use for characterization of biological nanoparticles such as viruses and exosomes for medical diagnostic and drug-discovery applications. He is active in outreach as vice head of utilization at the Physics Department and as teacher in Biological Physics and Science, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He has been awarded the Göran Gustafsson prize in Physics by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (KVA), is a Wallenberg Scholar and is member of The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA).

Gustav Thane

Gustav Thane is a PhD candidate at HDK Gothenburg since 2018. He became a traditional blacksmith master in 2017 and has a MA in fine arts and craft from Steneby 2009. Master Thane has competed in, and won the Swedish championships in blacksmithing, the Granbergsdal blacksmith competition and the Visby blacksmith competition. For about ten years he’s been self-employed specializing in metal art for liturgical use. When not developing blacksmith simulators, Gustav Thanes research revolves around toolmaking, and how to understand bodily movements in relation to tools.

Harry Baker

World Poetry Slam Champion Harry Baker published his debut anthology ‘The Sunshine Kid’ with Burning Eye in December 2014. The subsequent show of the same name was voted ‘Best Spoken Word show’ of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015. Now a fully fledged maths graduate and full time poet/adventurer, His work has been shared on TED.com and viewed millions of times worldwide, as well as being translated into 21 different languages. He is working on a new collection of maths and poetry off the back of a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe based on turning 10,000 days old!

Heather Massie

Heather Massie is a NYC Actor and Writer. Originally from Virginia, Ms. Massie has always been fascinated by the sciences, especially Astronomy. She studied Astrophysics at the University of Virginia, and Theatre Arts at The Virginia Tech School of the Arts, graduating Summa Cum Laude.

In an effort to join her love of science with her passion for theatre, Ms. Massie wrote and performs her solo show HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr.

Massie’s goal is to create a trilogy of shows celebrating women in science. Her second is to be Flying with Sally Ride: America’s First Woman in Space. In February 2019 she was the Resident Artist at the Áras Éanna Arts Centre on the island of Inisheer in the Aran Islands, Co. Galway, Ireland, for the research phase of this new work.

Isabelle Doucet

Jacob Heringman

For 32 years now, the American-born lutenist Jacob Heringman has made his home in England, where he has established himself as a leading soloist, song accompanist and chamber musician. As a soloist, Jacob has released several highly acclaimed CDs of renaissance lute repertoire. As an accompanist, Jacob has had the good fortune to work regularly with many fine singers, including Emma Kirkby, Barbara Bonney, Michael Chance, John Potter and Clare Wilkinson. Regular instrumental collaborators in recent years include Alternative History, Theatre of the Ayre, Ariel Abramovich, Adel Salameh, and The Dowland Project. Susanna Pell and Jacob appear as the duo Pellingmans' Saraband. Jacob also appears on many film soundtracks (including Harry Potter III, The Hobbit, and Robin Hood), and has recently become increasingly active in the area of improvised and crossover music, as well as transcription and arrangement. Jacob also teaches (and uses) the Alexander Technique. Since 2010, Jacob has been a no-fly musician, as a result of which he is getting to know the continental train system intimately.

Jan Bang

Jan Bang is a Norwegian musician and record producer, known from several albums and collaborations over many years with musicians like Sidsel Endresen, David Sylvian, Jon Hassell, Tigran Hamasyan, Nils Petter Molvær, Eivind Aarset, Arve Henriksen and Erik Honoré - the latter of which he co-founded the Punkt festival with in 2005.

He is one of Norway’s most accomplished and influential producers and the epithet electronic mastermind has stayed with him for a long time and with good reason. Bang is the kind of musical innovator and bridge-builder who consistently manages to balance progressive thinking with popular appeal. He is always looking for ways of moving music and people forward, and by creating new meeting places and musical intersections. Bang is a professor of electronic music at the University of Agder, Norway.

Jasmine Isdrake

CEO & Exec Creative Director, Playcentric Studios.

Creative director and experience designer in games, transmedia and festivals, as well as an award winning film director, cyborg artist and founder of a game art gallery and the game innovation lab Collaboratory.Jasmine has studied technology and game culture from early archaeological finds to future cyborg interfaces, worked in the art, design and game industries, does community work for diversity, inclusion, STEAM education, andlectures at global conferences and universities.
www.isdrake.com

Jens Ahrens

Joe Rowley

Joe Rowley is an artist and curator based in Göteborg (SE). He holds a BA in Fine Art from Nottingham Trent University and completed his masters at Akademin Valand in 2018. His areas of interest include strategies within artist led organisations, manipulated narratives and the effect of monuments on society. Rowley has exhibited around Europe and was one of the co-founders of H U T T, an artist led gallery in Nottingham (UK) in 2014, which focused on giving opportunity to emerging artists. In 2016 he curated the UK Young Artists National Festival in Derby (UK), followed by taking a group fro that festival to exhibit at BJCEM, Mediterrania 18: Tirana & Durres (AL) in 2017. He also co-edits Ephemeral Care a very occasional publication considering ethics and best practice in artist led organisation.

Johan Stern

Johan Stern har studerat vid Kungliga Musikhögskolan i Stockholm och på Juilliard School i New York. Han delar sin tid mellan jobbet som stämledare i Göteborgs Symfoniker, undervisning vid Högskolan för Scen & Musik vid Göteborgs Universitet samt Gageego! – den göteborgsbaserade ensemblen för ny musik. Dessutom framträder han gärna som solist och kammarmusiker. Som inbjuden gästlärare har han undervisat i bl a Venezuela och Chile och sedan några år tillbaka har han en egen masterclass på Capri varje sommar.

Johan Ranch

Johan Ranch is an architect based in Gothenburg. In his work he focuses on the details and materials, and how they create a story of the space. He graduated from Chalmers School of Architecture in 2019 with his master thesis work The Search of the Lost Patron - And the Search for C.M. This thesis work is an investigation and search of the neglected and forgotten artist Charlotte Mannheimer (1866-1934). Through letters, archives, paintings and graves Johan Ranch creates space to resuscitate Mannheimer’s efforts as an artist and art patron.

John Potter

John Potter's multifarious musical collaborators include lutenists Ariel Abramovich and Jacob Heringman, the Dowland Project with John Surman and Milos Valent, the composer Ambrose Field and the Conductus Ensemble with fellow tenors Christopher O'Gorman and Rogers Covey-Crump. A writer and scholar as well as a singer, he has published four books on singing and is a former British Library Edison Fellow. He is Reader Emeritus in Music at the University of York, having left the university in 2010 to focus on his portfolio of freelance projects. His non-performing activities have included publishing articles and research papers, examining doctoral theses in Europe and the UK and coaching ensembles in Europe and the USA.

John's eclectic performing experience has ranged from first performances of works by Berio, Stockhausen, James Dillon, Arvo Pärt, Gavin Bryars and Michael Finnissy to backing vocals for Manfred Mann, Mike Oldfield and The Who (among others). Red Byrd, the group he founded with bass Richard Wistreich, recorded music as diverse as Monteverdi (both straight and with electric guitars), Leonin (3 albums for Hyperion) and John Paul Jones (for Factory Records). He was a major contributor to the Hilliard Ensemble's Officium project (for which he has five gold discs), and subsequently developed many of the ideas in The Dowland Project's four albums for ECM. He also produced the first three ECM albums by the Scandinavian Trio Mediaeval.

Current projects include Alternative History, an ensemble with Anna Maria Friman, Ariel Abramovich and Jacob Heringman rooted in the 17th century performance of renaissance polyphony (as on the ECM Secret History album) but including new music for voices & lutes by Sting, Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks, Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, and early twentieth century composers (as featured on the ECM recording Amores Pasados). The Conductus ensemble has released three CDs on Hyperion and is exploring new 14th century repertoires, and John's programmes with lutenists Ariel Abramovich and Jacob Heringman focus on the farther shores of the renaissance and the jazz-like 17th century 'division' repertoire - from Ford to Ferrari.

Jukka-Pekka Saraste

Jukka-Pekka Saraste has established himself as one of the outstanding conductors of his generation, demonstrating remarkable musical depth and integrity. Born in Heinola, Finland, he began his career as a violinist before training as a conductor with Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. An artist of exceptional versatility and breadth and renowned for his objective approach, he feels a special affinity with the sound and style of late Romantic music. At the end of the 2018/2019 season, he ended his tenure as Chief Conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, where he had served since 2010. Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a founding member of LEAD! The Orchestra Project, which aims to teach effective musical leadership and communication skills to aspiring young musicians within the context of orchestra playing, in workshops, concerts and masterclasses. Recent LEAD! activities include orchestra projects at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne, Aurora Festival in Stockholm and with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra. Jukka-Pekka Saraste has received the Pro Finlandia Prize, the Sibelius Medal, and the Finnish State Prize for Music. He was awarded honorary doctorates from York University, Toronto and Sibelius Academy, Helsinki.

Kirsten Kraiberg Knudsen

Kirsten Knudsen is a professor in astronomy at Chalmers. Her research is focused on galaxies, in particular she is studying the “childhood” of galaxies by looking 10-13 billion years back in time to the early Universe. For her research she uses the largest and newest telescopes, for example the Atacama Large Millimetre Array in Chile. Among her discoveries are copious amounts of cosmic dust in early universe galaxies, an unexpected discovery as the production of vast amounts of dust requires a lot of time. Since 2013 she is a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, and in 2014-2019 she was an elected member of the Young Academy of Sweden. In 2018 she was the first recipient of the Birger Karlssons science price, awarded by the KVVS in Gothenburg.

Klaus Falschlunger

Linda Frejme

Linda Frejme is an experienced project manager and change manager. She is often appreciated for her fearless, clear and caring approach. As a consultant Linda have had the opportunity to work with large implementations, complex organisations, public health care and global corporations. Today she acts as project manager for Chalmers against sexism. Read more about Chalmers against sexism here chalmers.se/safe.

Linnéa Larsson

Lisa Schmidt

Lisa Schmidt är fil.dr. i litteraturvetenskap och disputerade hösten 2018 på avhandlingen Radera. Tippex, tusch, tråd och andra poetiska tekniker(Glänta produktion) vid Göteborgs universitet. Utöver litteraturvetenskap har hon studerat ämnen som estetik, konst och kreativt skrivande. Hon har tidigare varit verksam som förlagsredaktör samt förläggare och drev mellan åren 2007 och 2011 bokförlaget Bladstaden som framförallt uppmärksammades för sin barnboksproduktion. Hon ingick även i redaktionen för den litteraturvetenskapliga tidskriften TfLmellan åren 2016 och 2018. Som lärare har Schmidt bland annat undervisat i ämnen som Redaktionell praktik, Litteraturkritiskt skrivande, Bilderboksanalys, Litteraturvetenskap och Akademiskt skrivande. I egenskap av poet har hon givit ut två diktsamlingar, Kärrmunsblomma. Eller berättelsen om hur fadern försvinner i en symbolisk trädgård (2007) samt barnboken Plocka bumlingbaluns (2011). För närvarande deltar hon bland annat i arbetet med en ny världslitteraturhistoria där hon skriver om litteratur i skärningspunkten mellan litteratur och konst.

Luciano Biondini

Magnus Gelang

Magnus Gelang är intendent på Göteborgs Naturhistoriska Museum. Han är expert på fåglars evolution och släktskap. Dessutom ägnar sig Magnus också åt fladdermusforskning. Gärna sådan forskning som kan kopplas till människors liv och hälsa.

Maria Küchen

Maria Küchen är författare och kulturskribent bosatt i Lund. Hon frilansar för bland annat Sydsvenskan och Sveriges radio och har sedan poesidebuten 1989 gett ut ett trettiotal böcker – dikter, romaner, existentiella reflektioner och senast två uppmärksammande och lovprisade sakprosaböcker om flyg respektive rymdfart. Essäsamlingen "Att flyga" (Natur & Kultur 2016) följdes 2019 av "Rymdens alfabet" – en kulturhistorisk berättelse från A till Ö om bemannade rymdfärder, om satelliter och teleskop, om rymdstationer och hotet mot jorden från kometer och asteroider, om science fiction, rymdpop och mycket annat.

Marit Kapla

Journalisten Marit Kapla är född 1970, uppvuxen i Osebol och bosatt i Göteborg. Hon har varit konstnärlig ledare för Göteborgs filmfestival och är i dag en av två redaktörer för kulturtidskriften Ord&Bild. Osebol är hennes första bok.

Matilda Lidberg

Matilda Lidberg is a dance artist, anthropologist and architect student who’s practise moves in the cross section of these disciplines.

Lidberg got her dance degree from Movement and Performance Research, Finland, her BA in Social anthropology at the University of Göteborg and in June 2020 she will graduate from MPDSD at Chalmers.

She is presently in Rome as the laureate of the Anna Ahrenberg architectural grant. Here she is researching what relationship architects have had to the body throughout history and explores the spatial experience of a room and its historical layers. The relationship between body/space/time is also present in her other work as an artist; where they intersect, how they affect each other and the time we live in.

Max Ortiz Catalan

Dr. Max Ortiz Catalán, Ph.D., led the development the first biomechatronic arm directly connected to patient's bone, nerves, and muscles. This technology allows for safe, long-term stable, and intuitive close-loop control of prosthetic hands in daily life. In addition, he developed a novel treatment for phantom limb pain that has helped chronic sufferers for whom no other treatments were effective. Dr. Ortiz Catalán is an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, where he founded the Biomechatronics and Neurorehabilitation Laboratory (@ChalmersBNL). He works in close collaboration with Sahlgrenska University Hospital, and serves as a Research Director of Integrum AB, both in Gothenburg, Sweden. Dr. Ortiz Catalán won the “Brian & Joyce Blatchford Award” by ISPO in 2017, the “SER Prize” by SER in 2017, the “Delsys Prize” by Delsys in 2016, and the “European Youth Award” by the European Council in 2014. His research includes bioelectric signals acquisition electronics (analog and digital); bioelectric signal processing and machine learning algorithms for decoding motor volition and control; neuromuscular interfaces; neurostimulation for sensory feedback; bone-anchored prostheses and osseointegration; and, virtual and augmented reality for neuromuscular rehabilitation and the treatment of phantom limb pain.

Michael Wide

Ola Brusehed

Ola Brusehed är pedagog på museet. Gymnasielärare inom biologi och kemi. Undervisar på museet alla åldrar från tidig förskola till gymnasium och högskola. Tycker att det bästa med att vara lärare på museet är tillgången till samlingarna.

Olle Niklasson

Olle Niklasson är Sveriges ledande musikteknikjournalist, utbildad vid Göteborgs Universitet och Musikhögskolan i Göteborg. Efter avslutad utbildning har Olle Niklasson arbetat som musiker, kompositör och producent parallellt med undervisning vid Musikhögskolan i Göteborg mellan åren 1976 och 1990. Olle Niklasson har medverkat på ett hundratal skivinspelningar med såväl svenska artister (Totta Näslund, Ulf Dageby, Annika Blennerhed) som utländska (Bill Wyman, Rolling Stones). Olle Niklasson har spelat på Stora Teatern och turnerat i Skandinavien, Nordeuropa och i USA med bland andra Ron Wood (Rolling Stones). Som kompositör har Olle Niklasson skrivit musik för radio, tv, teater (Göteborgs Stadsteater, Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern, Nationalteatern) samt balettmusik (Tango av Ulf Gadd).

Patrick Moser

Per Sjösten

Per Sjösten, works as a freelance recording engineer and producer in jazz, world music, orchestral, choir and organ. He made his first commercial recording in the beginning of the 80's and this occupation has been steadily growing since then.

Per has a PhD in Acoustics and teaches Electroacoustics at the master program on sound and vibration at Chalmers. The course has a special focus on the design of microphones, loudspeakers and control rooms. He is a member of the Audio Engineering Society and is currently charing the Swedish section.

Peter Axelsson

Peter Axelsson är specialist i ortopedi och handkirurgi. Han arbetar som sektionschef och överläkare på Sahlgrenska Universitetssjukhusets Handkirurgiska klinik. Han är Medicine Doktor med forskning fokuserad främst på behandling av handledens skador och sjukdomar. Peter är också ordförande i Svensk Handkirurgisk Förening.

Peter Christensson

Peter Christensson: Project leader for the AHA!festival and sculpturer. Christensson is lecturer in Architecture and Engineering, at the department of archtecture and civil engineering.

Louise Wanselius & Theatre Bluesband

Louise Wanselius is a singer-songwriter from Gothenburg. She has toured in Sweden and abroad with her music since the early 2000s. Louise's music is rooted in the rhythms and tone of folk music. It has evolved into a personal musical expression with lyrics that touch the innermost essence of life. Theatre Bluesband is two musicians from Gothenburg with broad experience of both music and theatre. The result of this trio is an expressive music show where music, poetry and theater are mixed together and create new worlds.

RISE Interactive

Fredrik Trella - inbyggda system och Teknisk fysik.
Erik Einebrant - datavetenskap, spel och interaktionsdesign.
Gabriella Di Feola - kultur, estetik och media.
Maja Fjällbäck - UX, animation och illustration.

Amanda Kullberg och Lisa Grennberg -Design och produktutveckling, Chalmers

Not present at AHA!:
Frida Andersson med kunskap i digital humaniora från Borås museum och Lilian Paunovic Olsson, med bakgrund inom kultur och kunnig inom tillgänglighetsfrågor från kulturföreningen Utopia.

RISE
Alla Kan Innovera

Sara Rousta

Staffan Nattsén

Staffan Nattsén är skådespelare och regissör och har mångårig erfarenhet av teater för barn, ungdomar och vuxna, främst från Teater UNO i Göteborg och är nu verksam på ENteater. Staffan har, förutom Redogörelse också medverkat i andra uppsättningar utifrån Kafkas texter såsom Processen, Förvandlingen och Straffkolonien.

Tobias Granmo

Tobias Granmo: Violinist, chamber musician and teacher. Granmo teaches violin and chamber music and is responsible for chamber music, at Academy of Muci and Drama at Gothenburg University.

UKON

Ulf Karl Olov Nilsson, ibland kallad UKON, är poet och psykoanalytiker. Sedan debuten 1990 har han publicerat ett tjugotal böcker, senast den augustnominerade Glömskans bibliotek, en essä om demens, vansinne och litteratur (Norstedts 2016) och i år Röstautograferna (Norstedts), en poetisk essä om vad fenomenet röst innebär. I flera av sina diktsamlingar har UKON använt sig av konceptuella metoder och tekniska lösningar för att framställa poesi.

Jez Wells

Jez Wells is an audio designer and sound recordist. He is a senior lecturer in Sound Recording in the Department of Music, having previously worked in the Department of Electronic Engineering, at the University of York. Prior to moving to York from London in 2000 he worked for Digital Audio Research and Fairlight.

Wave Lab

Simon Mare, Jens Hulteberg, Johannes Kjellberg, Mahmoud Mike Shirnazar, Sjoerd Hendriks och Sten Rõngelep.

Students from Interaction Design på Chalmers. Varying backgrounds in IT, Industrial Design, Cognitive Science, Technical Design.

Åke Linton

Åke Linton has been working with sound both live and for recordings since the late 1970s. His CV is like a “Who´s who” over modern European jazz where his longtime collaboration with the famous trio EST is worth noting. Åke says: “40 years of having the fortune to work with music and to be part of the music more than just being the sound engineer.” His question and mission which he brings in to the Seminar is How do we make music more emotional with the help from sound.

Åke Parmerud

Åke Parmerud has successfully pursued a professional career in contemporary music and media art since the late 70’s. Although he originally trained as a photographer ( 1972-74 ) he went on to study music at university and subsequently the Göteborg Conservatory of Music. In addition to his electro-acoustic and instrumental music, his prolific list of works includes compositions covering a broad cross-section of modern experimental music in the fields of dance, film, interactive art, multi-media, theatre and video. The last ten years he has been working as an innovative sound and software designer for interactive audio/visual installations and performances. His own works “The Fire Inside”, “The Living Room” and “Lost Angel” have been shown in Berlin, Göteborg, Leon, Mexico City, Paris and Reykavik. He has also designed concerts and been artistic director for large audio/visual events both indoors and outdoors.

Stefan Östersjö

* Please click on the name for more info

ABOUT THE AHA! FESTIVAL

The AHA! festival explores encounters between art and science during a two-day event at the Chalmers University of Technology, supported by the Departments of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Physics, Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Industrial and Materials Science and Communication and Learning in Science, and Health Engineering Area of Advance. It is an international festival intended to provide a stage for enlightening and surprising experiences, staging surprises, new thoughts and displaced perspectives that lead to alternative modes of thinking about exploring the world through art and science. We invite scientists (physicists, historians, astronomers, engineers), artists (dancers, musicians, painters, poets, acrobats) who reside in these borderlands and wish to share their vision and work.

HISTORY

The relation between science and art has become more complex, but is just as important to attend to. Their meeting is still that of theory and practice, but also something more: a meeting of causal connections and meaningful coherences, of given conditions and unsuspected possibilities, of the order of things and our own place within it.

Today, ”science” no longer refers to systematic knowledge, but rather to a highly professionalised, specialised and often technically advanced activity intended for the production of empirically secure facts. Similarly, ”art” is no longer a methodical ability, but rather a complex and autonomous activity comparable to science: the creation of images, sounds, and other forms of sensuous experience with a most immediate effect. Forms that grab hold, shake up, leave us at a loss. Experiences that make us question ourselves and the world around us.

By bringing together science and art, architecture has provided an ideal playing field for such a confrontation for the first two festival in 2014 and 2015. In 2014, October 21–23, the first festival investigated the theme ‘embodiment.’ In 2015, November 2-4 the festival explored numbers, an underlying element in our lives. In year 2016 the festival was a joint voyage between the Departments of Architecture and Department of Physics to explore the theme ‘uni-verse,’ the fabric of life. All festivals offer three days of seminars, workshops, conversations, exhibitions, concerts, performances, and mingles, through thought-provoking experiences, hands-on surprises, itinerant perspectives, and savoury ideas. The festival welcomes students and researchers from all universities, and the general public, to turn the searchlight onto the relation between two different– but equally important – human activities; ’Science and art.’